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not what I should do but what I do

I had today off. A welcome break from work and much needed because I’ve become so acustomed to living in a hovel that it could have all gone horribly wrong. Had I made some vague plans I could have gone somewhere other than the local miniature tescos but I didn’t. I slept and I started to try and recover the sanity of existence whilst ensuring I had clothes to wear.
Sanity of existence. Yep. Possibly verging on some sentence of arrogant poetics used by wankers, it sums up neatly what I wanted to achieve; not to have the surroundings of a crazy person. Eg I needed things clean and organised and nolonger in piles. I also needed less stuff.

After buying and actually reading Marie Kondo’s ‘The life-changing magic of tidying’ on the second day of 2015, I had high hopes. But even Kondo can’t keep this hoarder in check. I try. But stuff just amasses. And I like stuff. Stuff reminds me of great times, great places. I like variety and struggle with anything bland. So there’s a lot of stuff. It would be less if I had a whole flat. But I don’t. I have a smallish room AND I’m downsizing. So I planned and should have spent the day clearing stuff. But I opened one box of stuff and got waylaid…

Then I got drawn into a memory trap, then I remembered I made a list of what to do… So I found that and, well me and my lists are pretty detailed and designed to make me function. By this time it was 2pm and the only thing I could check off was number 2 ‘drink coffee’. I had successfully bypassed number 1 ‘have shower and get dressed and was still well…. You get the idea.

Now everyone not at work today is probably screaming at me. The weather. I know, I should have been outside… But I wasn’t. I knew it was hot but I was too busy contemplating what I needed to and should be doing and had resulted in doing nothing after finding the above, ancient? VIP lanyard from a Kanye gig at a time Kim Kardashian wasn’t even invented.

So I decided to go back to the list and atleast make the rest of the day productive. The 3rd? Read. So I read. (Not outside but inside where there are limited allergens and no shouty people) I finished Jenny Offill’s Dept of Speculation and had to then lie on my bed to recover… That moment when you finish a great book and it just needs to sink in, literally.

If the book I’m writing turns out even remotely similar (coincidentally structurally i hope so) I will be both relieved and probably a little guilt filled. After that I let Reese Witherspoon read me the first chapter of ‘Go set a watchman’ via The Guardian. Then I ate some pickled cucumbers and tried to decide if I was wasting a perfectly good day off. And did I really care? All in all no. The beauty of a day off, especially an unplanned one is that you can just ‘be’. I hadn’t wasted it at all, I don’t think. Although next day off then I’ll try and go further than 5 minutes from my house. Maybe. And try not to get distracted when trying to clear things.
The above is a little abridged so you didn’t get bored. Other things I successfully did include:

Repotted my (possibly dead)Aloe Vera plant

Did two loads of washing after a stray tissue ruined the first

Filed my nails

Hoovered

Didn’t take my books to charity

Worked out how much tax I’m owed.

Had a little dance when I realised the above refund will pay most for most of a holiday

Decided what to read next. Then had second thoughts

Spoke to my pregnant friend on the phone

Tweeted New Look about the fact my shoes have fallen apart in 3 weeks.